The mini-derby belonged to City as the young Reds were on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline.

After an even opening, two goals within five minutes left United facing an uphill battle. Jordy Hiwula latched onto a through ball by Albert Rusnak and clipped his finish past Liam Jacob before Rusnak dribbled through to bag a fine solo effort to double the lead.

There was a real blow when powerful skipper Luke McCullough was forced off after a clash of heads with Hiwula and, with no defender on the bench, Ben Pearson's introduction meant a reshuffle of the team.

Paul McGuinness' side still responded to reduce the arrears when a Joe Rothwell cross was only cleared to Gyliano van Velzen and the Dutchman*calmly placed a relaxed finish*past City keeper Angus Gunn.

In a game of few other chances, the second half was littered with free-kicks and swung in City's favour when a hugely debatable penalty was awarded for a challenge by Luke Hendrie on Rusnak as he shot wide. Rusnak took the spot-kick himself and slammed it past Jacob to put the game beyond the hosts' reach.

Andy Cole, who was on the touchline, saw his son Devante come on as a substitute for City but there were few late openings for either side as the Reds, who also lost Tom Lawrence through injury, failed to really test Gunn again.

Manchester United's Under 18s sustained a third Academy League defeat on the spin on Saturday, despite taking an early lead away to Wolves.

Joe Rothwell's smart strike into the top corner after ten minutes was cancelled out by Zeli Ismail midway through the first half and although the score remained 1-1 until the interval, Wolves were eventually comfortable winners. The hosts*moved in front for the first time eleven minutes after the break when Charni Ekangamene brought down Ismail and the impeded player, scorer of a hat-trick against the Reds in last season's fixture, stepped up to convert the resulting penalty. Ekangamene was booked for his misdemeanour.

A back-to-back goal blast in the space of two minutes effectively killed the contest in Wolves' favour.*Jack Price's well-struck shot from the edge of the area on 71 minutes was immediately followed by Sam Whittle's header from Jake Kempton's inviting left-wing cross.

Jack Barmby pulled one back for United from the penalty spot, seven minutes from time, after Adnan Januzaj - who showed some good touches*on his Reds debut - was felled in the area. Kempton responded in the final*minute with a fine*volley, to make it 5-2 to Wolves.

The young Reds must now pick themselves up for*a home clash with Liverpool, on the eve of the senior sides' meeting at Anfield. Kick off at Carrington will be at 12:00 midday on Friday, 14 October, with the action being shown live on MUTV.

United's Under-18s battled hard at Liverpool but went down to a fourth consecutive Academy defeat with a 2-1 reverse.

A nightmare start did not help the Reds' cause but an improved second-half display saw Jack Barmby pull one back with a splendid strike. Adam Morgan's near-post header made the early breakthrough in the third minute and, despite playing some neat football, United never really threatened Tyrell Belford before falling further behind to a soft header from Matty Regan when Liam Jacob failed to deal with a high cross from the right.

Only the woodwork denied Jack Dunn a third for Mike Marsh's hosts but the second half produced more attractive work from the Reds and Barmby picked up a loose pass to smash home a superb strike with his left foot with an hour gone. It was Barmby's fifth of the campaign and takes him to the top of the scorers' chart.

Jacob kept out a couple of decent attempts from Morgan as United struggled to create too many chances, although substitute Kenji Gorre was squeezed out in the closing stages when being played through by Barmby's intelligent pass.